Shooter

Description

Shooters are action games in which the player character shoots enemies.

The shooting is usually performed with firearms in these games; however, any weapon that dispatches projectiles qualifies, which makes many games (e.g. Heretic) that rely on medieval ranged weaponry or even magical projectiles shooters as well.

Since the emergence of 3D graphics, 3D shooters, popularized by Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, have become the leading representatives of the genre. This sub-genre is sometimes referred to as first-person shooter, though this definition is not very precise, since the genre's distinguishing feature are 3D environments, not the perspective; some 3D shooters allow players to switch between perspectives, while others enforce a third-person view.

3D shooters may incorporate elements of other genres, most commonly role-playing (e.g. System Shock games and Deus Ex).